Curious Case of Missing Iranian Scientist

In a bizarre twist of events, an Iranian scientist who was in the United States to provide information to U.S. officials about that country's nuclear program has decided to return to Tehran.

"A year later he had second thoughts. There was probably a lot of pressure being put on his wife and child in Tehran. I was told that they were prohibited from leaving the country to join him," Carnegie Endowment's Karim Sadjapour told CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante on Wednesday's "Washington Unplugged."

Sadjapour said Iranian reports that Shahram Amiri was kidnapped and tortured are likely untrue.

"The Iranian government has a credibility gap," he said.

The 32-year old nuclear scientist was also able to broadcast videos of himself in the U.S., something Sadjapour said he would not have been able to do if he was in CIA imprisonment.

Regardless, Sadjapour said, "This was a public relations disaster for the CIA."

Watch the video above.